Mcbeth Essay

713 words - 3 pages

The story of Macbeth by playwright William Shakespeare presents timeless themes of corruption, temptation and blind ambition that still resonates well even in today's age. Macbeth is ultimately a tale of how someone so good and pure can fall from grace due to manipulation and eventually lead to ones self-destruction.

Like a traditional tragic hero in Shakespearian literature, Macbeth suffered from a tragic flaw. In his case, his flaw was his excessive desires for ambition, combined with a lust for power. Macbeth himself recognises this ambition in act 1, scene 7 where he states in a soliloquy "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition". This comment suggests that he knows that the only thing that prompts his actions is his ambition. While ambition alone is not in fact a bad trait, when added with a lust for power, it can become dangerous, becoming known as blind ambition. Having that characteristic did not mean that Macbeth was corrupt, it simply meant that he, like all human beings, had a flaw and a weakness. Displayed at the start of the play, Macbeth was seen as the hero, being described as "brave Macbeth" in act 1, scene 2, and shown as a loyal and brave solider on the battlefield, and frequently referred to as "valiant" by Duncan throughout the first act. That ambition always resided within him but did not cause a problem until the prophecy was made by the Witches in the first act.

It was essentially the moment that the witches first cast the prophecy over Macbeth that sealed his fate forever. Without the witches foretelling his rise to power as Thane of Cawdor and furthermore as the future king of Scotland, the idea would never have occurred to him. He was initially a modest character, grateful of his position in life. However, once the witches planted the seeds in Macbeths mind they started to flourish and ultimately the idea wholly consumed him. Though initially he did not believe what they said, once he was granted the title...

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